100 Songs That Have Moved Me | Song #006: "Under the Boardwalk" (1964)

[luxken27]

Title: "Under the Boardwalk"
Artist: The Drifters
Composers: Kenny Young, Arthur Resnick
Producer: Bert Berns
Release Date: June 1964
Peak Chart Position: #4 (Hot 100)
Album: Under the Boardwalk (1964)

Rolling Stone metadata:

Rank: #489

Blurb: A staple of beach-town jukeboxes every summer since its release, "Under the Boardwalk" evokes the carefree sounds of the shore. But its recording was no day at the beach. Johnny Moore was drafted to sing lead because the track's original singer, Rudy Lewis, died of a heroin overdose in his hotel room the night before the session. (Source)

Words from the artist:

The lyric describes a tryst between a man and his beloved in a seaside town, who plan to privately meet "out of the sun" and out of sight from everyone else under a boardwalk. The instrumentation includes güiro, triangle and violins. The song's chorus is unusual in that it switches from a major to minor key. The opening line of the song references the Drifters' prior hit "Up on the Roof", showing the occasional thermal weakness of the rooftop getaway and setting the stage for an alternate meeting location, under the boardwalk.

There are two versions of the song. The mono 45 USA released version contains the line "We'll be falling in love." The stereo album version contains beneath the line "We'll be falling in love" also the line "We'll be making love." These are two entirely different recordings, not edits of one another, as the line "on a blanket with my baby is where I'll be" is sung differently in both versions. The version appearing on the Drifters' Golden Hits compilation is a composite of the two, using "making love" in the first two choruses and "falling in love" in the third. (Source)


[T]here are few better orchestrated New York pop-soul records than "Under the Boardwalk," a record where a great song, vocal, and production contributed about equally to the creation of a classic. Like many other 1960s Drifters songs, "Under the Boardwalk" adheres to a Latin American rhythm, one that puts more emphasis on the later beats of a measure than the earlier ones. The inventive instrumental introduction puts a perky, ascending bass against a scraping percussion noise and a triangle. That sets an upbeat mood for a pleasant tune that could almost be a calypso, or a Mexican ballad, with a cantina-like guitar trilling away in back of Johnny Moore's lead vocal. It's not the Caribbean or Mexico, however. It's America, and "Under the Boardwalk" has vivid images of coastal American beaches, with the boardwalk, hot sun, hot dogs, French fries, and carousels. These verses might have been enough alone to sell the song to radio and listeners. But they're outshone by the devastating chorus, in which the song suddenly goes into a vaguely ominous minor key. The way the backing Drifters sing-chant the title phrase is ominous too, almost threatening, as though something dangerous and momentous is going to happen under the boardwalk. Moore keeps serenading away about falling in love under the boardwalk as the backup singers counterpoint him in a moodier fashion. When Moore reaches the line about falling in love under the boardwalk, though, the backup vocal suddenly becomes a cappella and briefly changes rhythm, ending with an emphatic minor-keyed "boardwalk," as if a point of no return has suddenly been reached. In the best Drifters fashion, the orchestration becomes more elaborate as the song goes on, adding sumptuous strings, particularly in the instrumental break, punctuating the backup chants of the title with dramatic staccato strokes on the last chorus. The end of the song is most creative, too, ending cold on a final "under the boardwalk." It's an ending that takes listeners by total surprise the first couple of times they hear it, as they expect the song to go back into the verse, but it doesn't. Too, that lends an air of finality to the song's mini-operetta, and also implies that whatever's gone on under the boardwalk might be a little sinister, in addition to being romantic. And what exactly does go on, under the boardwalk, other than the couple falling in love? It's not spelled out, but you don't go under the boardwalk to soak up the sun, and they're probably enjoying a romantic interlude, whether it's kissing or going quite a bit further than that. The story behind the recording of "Under the Boardwalk," incidentally, was about as dramatic as the story in "Under the Boardwalk" itself. The song was written for Rudy Lewis to sing lead on, but Lewis died of a heroin overdose the night before the session. The session went ahead anyway, and the lead was handed to Johnny Moore, who did a magnificent job. (Source)

How this song moves me:

This song is evocative of summer for me. I remember listening to it as a kid; it was a staple of the local oldies station (my parents' favorite on the dial), and it was played so often that I learned the lyrics via osmosis, LOL. It makes me think of the lushness of the season, the heat, the beach, the promise of a summer romance...

This song is probably why I have a fascination with boardwalks, to this day. The beaches I frequented as a kid didn't really feature these, as such (the white-sand beaches of the Gulf, where sand and sea go one for miles and miles...all the 'fun stuff' was in the town itself, not really on the shore), but the beaches in my books - my constant escape - did. The Baby-sitters Club, Sweet Valley, countless single titles featuring teenagers falling in love :P I loved it, and I still do - one of my favorite places to set in-canon Kids Inc fic is Diamond Park, the boardwalk featured in the Season 5 cast-of-thousands episode "Kahuna Kids." I think I've at least referenced it in most of my Ryan/Stacy stories - I just love the idea of a summer romance for them ♥

What I love about this song is the instrumentation - the Latin beat, the unusual featured instruments (güiro, triangle and violins), the unique call/response echo between the lead vocals and the backing line. It immediately brings to mind the heat of the summer, the food, the activities, the sort of carefree atmosphere/vibe that those endless summer months entail. Only as I've grown older did I realize the intensity of the romantic storyline - there's quite the difference between singing about "falling in love" and "making love," and you can probably guess which one was featured on the radio, LOL - but it fits in perfectly with my haplessly romantic nature.

Comments

[snarky-imp.livejournal.com]

Oh, boardwalks. Something I've still never actually found in the wild.

And now I'll have this song stuck in my head all day.

[luxken27]

Oh, boardwalks. Something I've still never actually found in the wild.

So I'm not the only one?? LOL. Like I said, I think this is why I think they're magical places. Who wouldn't want to visit the boardwalk at, say, Sea City? :P

And now I'll have this song stuck in my head all day.

You're welcome! =)